The Louisville Cardinals have suspended Head Coach Chris Mack for the first six games of the 2021 NCAA basketball season. Mack was suspended for failing to follow the University guidelines, policies, and procedures when handling the incident with former assistant coach Dino Gaudio. Louisville also concluded that Gaudio extorted the Head Coach during the process. There is still an ongoing NCAA investigation into the actual allegations brought forth by the former assistant coach. Louisville only suspended Mack for the way he handled the extortion and did not levy judgment on the actual allegations.
“During the suspension, Coach Mack is prohibited from having any contact with the men’s basketball coaching staff or student-athletes. As the suspension is without pay, Coach Mack will forfeit approximately $221,000 in compensation.”
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) August 27, 2021
Louisville has been battling scandals and NCAA investigations for years and that seemingly has not changed despite an entire program revamp. It is unclear how much merit these allegations hold, but Mack did handle the situation poorly according to the University. This suspension will be six non-conference games and will include the team’s two games in The Bahamas. Mack will return to the program after the game on November 27th.
Head Coach Chris Mack released the following statement about the suspension: “I regret that any of my unintentional actions or failures to follow University guidelines have brought unnecessary attention to our outstanding athletics programs and University, I understand that I could have handled matters differently and therefore I accept this suspension. While it will kill me to be away from our basketball family in November, I will do everything possible to set them up for success before and after my time away, and I am fully confident that our coaches, staff, and student-athletes will rise to the occasion.”
